Thinking in perfomance, quality and considering their qualities, it would still be viable to purchase a CRT TV for fighting games of this gen? If so, factors such as response time, input lag, aspect ratio, connections, size, etc…, would be decisive, or any model of CRT would be accepted?
[EDIT]
For general use? None.
Most PS3 and Xbox 360 games will look too blurry and lose too much detail with a CRT TV. If you are planing to play something like a FPS, or something text heavy get a HDTV, HDMI cable, check out Displayu lag dot com for ratings.
Now you going to have ALOT of homework to do on this.
For Arcade Games like Fighters?
KING of the GODS TIER - Sony KV34-XBR960, CRT TV with HDMI support
God tier - Sony PVM monitor (or equivalent Industry grade monitor). You need a RGB Scart cable for your system and a Scart to BNC adapter. You might also need a separate image processor (like the Super Emota) to downscale your video image.
Great tier - Great/Excellent condition Arcade Monitor, Amiga or Commodore 64 Monitor. Will need RGB scart cable, adapter of some sort and possibly a sync cleaner. T
Good tier- High End PC CRT monitor, for Xbox 360 users use the official MS VGA cable. PS3 users have no reliable VGA solution , so you have to get a GOOD RGB scart to VGA adapter (not the Golbeze adapter) or a Component to VGA adapter
Okay Tier - Sony Trinitron (or equivalent) Late 90s to early 2000s model with Component video
Mediocre - TV with Composite video
Poor (AVOID)- TV via RF switch
In this case is just for fighting games, but the example from God tier setup can be applied in all systems, independent from gen - like PS4 or XBO, and the future gens - or this just only can be applied in some consoles?
Sony KV34-XBR960. The broadcast monitors you can get are similar in that they’re all 1080i and never larger than 34 inches. The XBR960 has HDMI so at least you can easily hook up any video output using it, PLUS it has S-Video, RCA, and Component. Pretty much everything you could want.
If you live in a large metro area you can probably find one on Craigslist or eBay. Unfortunately these are sought after so you may have a hard time finding people who want to let go of them.
They’re excellent TV’s. You won’t find any better.
Lets stop for a moment, please note that the PS4 and Xbone completely lack any analog output.
Also as we have no idea the state of the TV industry 5 or 10 years from now, it is impossible to future proof.
I completely forgot about those. Best CRT Screens in the world, one of the only CRT screens that is HD compatible.
I had a 36" HD CRT. It weighed nearly 200 pounds. Moving was a nightmare. Nuts to that. I’m happy with my plasma and framemeister for older systems.
Is this real life??!!??
So, the Sony model presented by @Moonchilde can be easily replaced by the Sony PVM monitors - presented by @Darksakul?
No, you got that vice versa. You’d want the XBR960 first and foremost, it would be the most “future proof” CRT you can get.
The problem w/ PVM monitors are the screen size. I think the biggest is 27" but those are pretty hard to find. Most are about 19"-24" If you plan to play old school games then go w/ the Sony PVM as you can use scart cable to get the best picture quality. Playing new gen for example Xbox One only has HDMI, not sure if there are any HDMI’s w/ PVM monitors that dont cost $5k-$20k. Also, not sure if there are any widescreen ones either so that can effect the screen ration on widescreen fighting. Mostly ideal for retro gaming like SNES, Saturn, PS1, 3DO, etc…Also great for Shmups gaming due to the size you can flip it for vertical gaming.
The one Moonchild recommended would be better for gaming that does 480p to 1080i. The problem is that Xbox One does not support 1080i, it only support 480p, 720p, & 1080p. The Sony XBR960 can accept 720p but cannot display 720p content natively, has to upconvert to 1080i which Xbox One dont support. I believe PS4/Wii U supports 720 so no problems there. The great thing is that the TV is bigger & widescreen. So you can play your Xbox 360/PS3 content in its correct format. PS2, Dreamcast, Gamecube, & Xbox will look great on it too.
If you’re planning to just play last gen & this gen consoles & want to future proof it then you might go with a 4kTV instead. The new Sony 4kTVs have decent input lag according to the displaylag.com ranging from 17ms-19ms. Which is pretty damn good for these size tvs. They are still pricey & 4k technology still in its infant stage. It might just be safer in buying a cheap Evo monitor for now & wait it out.
XBR960 - King of the Gods Tier
The 34XBR910 has the same screen but is DVI instead of HDMI like the 34XBR960. If you want a huge 4:3 screen the 36XS955 is the same as the XBR960, but in 4:3 instead of 16:9. These are the best CRT’s for modern games, paired with an XRGB and even classic consoles will look great.
Still has the problem with 720p display, All sony HD CRT tv wont display 720p, it will always upconvert to 1080i which the Xbox One dont support.
No those TV’s do not have a problem with 720p display they work fine. The TV does the scaling not the console so if the console sends 720p then the TV will upscale it to 1080i (it’s actually more along the lines of 940 of some sort, some odd resolution which you can see in scaling mode in service menu) it doesn’t matter what the console does as long as it is within the TV’s specs. You don’t really know what you’re talking about because you think the Xbox One won’t support 1080i right after saying the TV scales 720p to 1080i which makes no sense at all because the Xbox is then not dispalying 1080i… it’s still doing 720p.
Anyway, in service menu I have had the TV report true 720p so it does indeed support it natively and not in scaled mode.
For the record, a quick google search pulls up http://support.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-one/system/tv-resolutions which states lists 1080i but states is not supported for fast moving content. It’s a pretty stupid reason actually. You can still output 720p just fine.
Also, the scaling in the TV is as lagless as it gets, it’s all done by hardware and so is any de-interlacing which is also done with hardware. In fact, ALL the processing on the TV is done via hardware and you can even disable a bunch of that stuff in service menu though it makes no difference because the lag is so damn non-existent. I’m pre-empting this one before some idiot who doesn’t know what they’re talking about comes here to spout off on scaling lag.
*1080i
Televisions with 1080i resolution display 1920 x 1080 pixels. This gives the user a 16:9 high definition (HD) viewing area. The “i” in 1080i stands for interlaced scan, which means that half the lines that make up screen images are “redrawn” by your HDTV 60 times a second. Although this technique looks great with most media, fast-moving video, such as sports footage, suffers a slight blur at 1080i. For this reason, Xbox One does not support interlaced resolutions.*
I dont know of any HD CRT that outputs 720p.
Xbox one dont display 1080i + Sony HD CRT automatically converts 720p content to 1080i = No bueno
Sony KV34-XBR960 did. it was one of the few HD CRT screens in existence and it only was produced for a few short years before the the FLAT TV trend took over.
It was well sought out by Video Engineers as LCD and Plasma screens do not have the color reproduction CRT has.
i’ve had experiences with Sony PVM’s and they are legit. but forget playing anything over 480x on it. just that, retro games lowres games, are best on true 15-24khz lowres CRT’s.
but at the same time consider that “HD” gaming are best on, and are meant for, moderns HD TV’s/Monitors.
play respective games/resolutions on respective formats. just my take on it.
also, first and foremost, buy a dolly if you’re going CRT hunting. don’t literally go for broke(n back).
A friend and I hauled two sony pvm’s across Texas. One was D.O.A., but we saved the other one by doing a chassis swap. that’s the thing with CRT’s too. when the time comes, optimization, maintenance and repair is somewhat of a “lost art” these days. I strongly suggest you take that matter into consideration. Even if you are very careful about your stuff, CRT’s degrade overtime, just like any appliance/gadget. Frankly, if an expensive/ Pro-level CRT craps on you, you either LEARN the science behind it, or find someone who does.
I’m not against CRT’s, would knab a Sony PVM/BVM if I encounter them, just make sure you know what you’re getting into.
How can you say this without ever having seen the TV in action. The XBR910 and XBR960 will take the 720p signal and convert it to 1080i, lagless and still be a beautiful picture. That’s how I ran my 360 and PS3 for years before getting a Samung 42" Plasma. I still miss the set, the contrast ratio on CRT’s can’t be beat, so inky black, and again lagless, with silky smooth transitions with fast paced action games, be it sports, FPS, or driving games.
I did notice lag when playing extremely timing-sensitive 480i games on a XBR800 HDCRT, for what it’s worth. It wasn’t bad but it was there.